Jamie Vardy latest: Arsenal transfer plans face disruption as striker delays decision until after Euro 2016
The Leicester City player has turned his focus on England
Arsene Wenger could be forced to wait over a month to learn whether Jamie Vardy will accept the challenge of a £20m move toArsenal with the Leicester City forward answering Roy Hodgson’s call to shelve a decision on his club future until after Euro 2016.
Vardy, 29, has spent the last five days mulling over the prospect of a transfer to the Emirates after Arsenal triggered the escape clause in his Leicester contract last week.
But while the England player is attracted by the appeal of signing for one of the biggest clubs in the Premier League, he is also torn by the desire to show loyalty to Leicester for plucking him from non-league obscurity in a £1m deal move from Fleetwood Town four years ago.
England manager Hodgson has urged his players to focus fully on the Euro 2016 campaign, however, which begins with the Group B opener against Russia in Marseille on Saturday.
Roy Hodgson arrives at the team hotel in Chantilly (Getty)
And with Vardy flying out to England’s Chantilly base with the rest of Hodgson’s tournament squad on Monday with his club future unresolved, the player has now made it clear to the Football Association and Hodgson that he will not be distracted by Arsenal’s offer while in France.
Despite reluctantly accepting Arsenal’s offer in order to honour the clause in Vardy’s contract, Leicester’s Thai owners are determined to hold onto the player who scored 24 league goals during the club’s remarkable title-winning campaign last season.
But Arsenal are prepared to be patient with Vardy, believing that the player will ultimately be drawn by the chance to move to the Emirates.
Should England progress to the latter stages of Euro 2016, though, Arsenal could be forced to wait until early-July for an answer from Vardy – a delay which could disrupt Wenger’s summer recruitment plans should the player choose to reject a move.
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